Ethical Standards for Authors

The Archives of Clinical and Experimental Orthopaedics (ACEO) is committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in medical publishing. Authors are expected to follow internationally accepted principles of integrity, accuracy, and transparency as defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

“Scientific credibility rests on honesty in research, authorship, and publication.”

1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based on the ICMJE four criteria:

• Substantial contributions to conception, design, data acquisition, or analysis.
• Drafting or critically revising the manuscript for intellectual content.
• Final approval of the version to be published.
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Individuals who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged appropriately but not listed as authors.

2. Originality and Plagiarism

• Manuscripts must represent original research not published or under review elsewhere.
• Textual similarity checks using advanced software (e.g., iThenticate) are mandatory.
• Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or data manipulation leads to rejection and potential blacklisting.

3. Data Integrity and Fabrication

Authors must ensure that data are accurately represented and reproducible. Data fabrication, falsification, or selective omission constitutes scientific misconduct. Supporting datasets should be retained for verification upon request.

4. Ethical Approvals

• Studies involving humans must adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki (2013).
• Animal research must follow institutional ethical standards and include approval reference numbers.
• Informed consent from participants must be documented where applicable.

5. Conflict of Interest Disclosure

All potential conflicts—financial, personal, institutional—must be transparently disclosed. The ICMJE Conflict of Interest Form should be submitted along with the manuscript. Example:

The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this study.

6. Redundant or Multiple Publications

Submitting the same or substantially similar work to more than one journal is unethical. Authors must disclose prior dissemination such as preprints, conference abstracts, or working papers.

7. Data Sharing and Transparency

• Authors are encouraged to deposit raw data and materials in open repositories (e.g., Dryad, Zenodo).
• Manuscripts must include a “Data Availability Statement.”
• Replication datasets should be available upon reasonable request.

8. Acknowledgments and Funding Disclosure

• Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgments section.
• All funding sources, grants, or institutional support must be declared transparently.

9. Image and Figure Integrity

Figures should not be manipulated to misrepresent data. Adjustments for clarity (brightness, contrast) are acceptable only if applied uniformly and disclosed in the figure legend.

10. Corrections and Retractions

Authors must promptly notify the editorial office of any significant errors discovered after publication. ACEO follows COPE retraction guidelines to issue corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions as necessary.

11. Clinical Trial Registration

Clinical trials must be registered in a public registry (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov) before enrollment of participants. The registration number must be included in the manuscript.

12. Authorship Dispute Resolution

Disputes over authorship are resolved per COPE guidance. All authors should agree on the order and inclusion before submission. Post-publication changes require written consent from all authors and editor approval.

13. Sanctions for Misconduct

• Immediate rejection or retraction of affected articles.
• Notification to the authors’ institutions or funding bodies.
• Temporary or permanent submission bans for severe violations.

14. Compliance Declaration

At submission, all authors must include the following statement:

“We certify that this manuscript is an original work, ethically conducted, and compliant with ACEO’s ethical standards.”

15. Contact and Support

16. Conclusion

The Ethical Standards for Authors are foundational to ACEO’s mission of fostering integrity, reproducibility, and transparency in orthopaedic research. Authors who adhere to these principles contribute to the advancement of evidence-based, trustworthy science.